Breastfeeding of a baby by a nursing woman has important benefits including nutrition, immunity to illnesses and psychological factors such as mother/baby bonding. Additional benefits of breastfeeding include (for the baby): breastmilk is easier for baby to digest and is “made to order” (breastmilk composition changes as baby ages and even throughout the day to meet growing baby's needs exactly), associated with increased IQ, decreased risk of obesity, decreased risk of childhood illness and cancers (asthma, diabetes, heart disease, ear infections), decreased risk of SIDS, and increased bonding between mother and baby.
Proper support for mother and baby is necessary to ensure a successful breastfeeding relationship. Some common factors leading to early ending of breastfeeding include lack of support (by family, lactation consultants, or medical providers), latching issues (resulting in poor weight gain or destruction of mother's breast tissue further leading to pain and infection), difficulty establishing and maintaining a healthy breastmilk supply, and mother returning to work with minimal workplace support or provision for pumping of breastmilk. Without proper support, breastfeeding attempts are often unsuccessful in the long-term, leading to the breastfeeding relationship ending earlier than is decided by the mother-baby dyad.
Risks of not breastfeeding include (for the mother): increased risk of obesity, increased risk of blood pressure instability, return of menstrual cycle possibly leading to closely spaced pregnancy and lack of conservation of nutrients, increased rate of postpartum depression, increased sleep disturbances, increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, increased risk of Rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis. Additional negative effects of unsuccessful breastfeeding are: working mothers missing more work days due to increase in baby being sick, increased cost due to purchase of formula, and increase in health expenses due to decreased health.
These benefits and risks are well documented in scientific theory and literature. Thus, it is highly desirable to provide inventions that make it easier and more comfortable for a woman to breastfeed.
Many nursing garments are known in the prior art. However, the conventional problems with these garments are, when breastfeeding, the nursing women typically expose their breasts, which may make them uncomfortable if located in a public or crowded area.
In addition, the prior art nursing garments are difficult to wear or secure when worn. Further, opening or closing the breast cups of the nursing garments and other factors can be difficult, and a nursing woman is physically restricted in her ability to manage these factors while securing and maintaining the breast cups in place. Finally, the hooks or clasps for opening or closing are complex that opening and closing cups can be very difficult.
Further, in case of multi-layered or even a single layer of nursing garment, the cups and borders may fray or unravel in repeated wearing and laundering, thereby making it desirable to have a single nursing garment that does not have to be changed frequently.
Conventional solutions for covering exposed areas of the nursing women have several limitations and are often bulky, uncomfortable, unsafe, or difficult to handle.
In some conventional solutions, large towels or small sheets are used, which are bulky and typically made of heavy, non-breathable material. These are often too warm to wear, increasing the body temperature of the nursing women and the baby, resulting in difficult or uncomfortable breastfeeding. In addition, these “covers” need to be secured; otherwise a breastfeeding woman runs the risk over having her “cover” fall off.
Thus, there has existed a long-felt need for a multi-layered nursing garment made from a plurality of individual fabric layers which can all be made from the same fabric or which can be made from different but compatible fabrics. The ideal nursing garment should allow for the opening and closing the breast cups with additional options including soft fabric, suppleness, the ability to provide support and control, and with total elimination of edge stitching and/or the use of narrow bordering materials. A long-felt need has also existed for a nursing garment that will allow a woman to both breastfeed and/or pump either alternately or simultaneously from different breasts, without the woman having the change her clothes.
Therefore, the present invention aims by providing a nursing bra or other nursing garment with two breast cups of multilayer fabric, each of which can be opened for breastfeeding or pumping the milk from breasts with ease of opening or closing breast cups separately. The invention further provides a clasp mechanism having separate attachment points, so a nursing woman can peel off one or more layers of the nursing garments as per her convenience. The invention also has a number of embodiments, including those where the clasp device is single and capable of accepting hooks from two or more layers, the use of two clasps where an outer layer hooks to one and an inner layer hooks to the second, the use of multiple clasps on different parts of the invention, and the use of multiple clips where one clip removably attached to the other.